Blog

Troy

Sadly, not as great as I had hoped for a movie on such a big scale.

film poster for the movie troySo why did I go and see this film? Perhaps it was for the epic nature of the story or perhaps it was to see the battle scenes in all their cinematic glory. Of course it could have been just to see Orlando Bloom and Brad Pitt buffed up and clad only in armour for a couple of hours on the screen.

The film was a huge let down. The epic, cinematic battles looked old-hat when compared to The Lord of the Rings. The story seemed disjointed and unfulfilling. There was nobody to side with, nobody to support and precious little humour to lighten the feel. It may be based on real-life events but if you are going to take licence you may as well bring some feeling into it.

Trojan champion Prince Hector (Eric Bana) is the most likable but – while not wanting to spoil anything for you – his fate entirely predictable even if you didn’t know the story. Pitt had all the moves, looks and swagger but was an unsympathetic mercenary and Orlando Bloom came across as a wishy-washy waste of space. Sadly, Achilles’ end (the heel, if you will) is entirely lost despite the best efforts of the film makers.

I’d wait until it’s on television if I were you.

Polo Shirts: A Fashion Idea For 2004

You’ll never guess what is this year’s fashion is going to be.

If you don’t try and keep up with boifromtroy you end up with so much to read you keep putting it off. It’s an amazing amount of material. Anyway in case you – like me – have missed out on this season’s fashion tip (hot from New York City) you should click across right now and learn that polo shirts are back. Honest. When I was at University in the early nineties there was a hall warden in the residences who must have worn a polo shirt every day of the four years I was there (I do not believe it was the same one). His collars were always up and, unlike most people’s collars, they never went limp. I don’t know who did his laundry (maybe he did) but it was incredible. Now the fact I can’t remember his name is starting to trouble me.

Here We Go Again

Big Brother is back on Channel Four in the UK.

dermot and davina back for big brother 2005Last night saw the last Friends in the UK (it was Black Friday)and the first of the new series of Big Brother. As we all knew the ending to Friends it seemed like something of a disappointment really. Big Brother on the other hand was a very different beast. Having had a few hours to think about it I am slightly less caught up in it than I thought I would be. It would appear the producers have selected all the people who claimed that they would ‘mix it up’. The house is full of individuals who claimed that they would be outspoken. Last night I thought this was a dangerous tactic. Yes, it will be fun when they first explode at each other (which they surely will) but I think it risks getting dull. Part of the fun of the original series was the fact that the housemates had fun and were, therefore, funny to watch. Car-crash television isn’t that interesting after the initial look. A high quote of lesbian, gay and bisexuals should exploitation to me and doesn’t make me think of a happy, diverse home.

UPADTE 2 JUNE. The Big Brother links:

The big brother popularity poll is a neat interactive idea to get you coming back to the site again and again. I do quite like that idea.

Memories Of A May Afternoon

It certainly doesn’t seem like twelve months since I was sitting in Helsinki for the first time and listening to an afternoon, outdoor Jazz concert

twelve months ago listening to jazz in the helsinki sunshineI know y’all won’t care but I’ve said before that the primary reason for the existence of this site is for me and a kind of diary/journal. The fact it is online is probably the incentive that makes me keep it up. The fact that you occasionally comment makes it feel more worthwhile. Ever since I introduced the ‘on this day’ link against relevant entries on the homepage I’ve found a great memory jogger. I end up re-reading entries from this day last year – or the year before. It certainly doesn’t seem like twelve months since I was sitting in Helsinki for the first time and listening to an afternoon, outdoor Jazz concert. It wasn’t what I expected of that city at all. And it looks like we may be doing more business in that part of the world over the rest of the year. I hope so.

Memories Of A May Afternoon

It certainly doesn’t seem like twelve months since I was sitting in Helsinki for the first time and listening to an afternoon, outdoor Jazz concert. It wasn’t what I expected of that city at all. And it looks like we may be doing more business in that part of the world over the rest of the year. I hope so.

Helskink Jazz
Sunshine & Jazz

I know y’all won’t care but I’ve said before that the primary reason for the existence of this site is for me and as a kind of diary/journal. The fact it is online is probably the incentive that makes me keep it up. The fact that you occasionally comment makes it feel more worthwhile. Ever since I introduced the ‘on this day’ link against relevant entries on the homepage I’ve found a great memory jogger. I end up re-reading entries from this day last year – or the year before. It certainly doesn’t seem like twelve months since I was sitting in Helsinki for the first time and listening to an afternoon, outdoor Jazz concert. It wasn’t what I expected of that city at all. And it looks like we may be doing more business in that part of the world over the rest of the year. I hope so.

Internet Domains

In 2004 there were proposals to create new top-level domains which included .mobi and .xxx. Tim Berners-Lee considers these harmful.

A number of site’s are pointing to Tim Berners-Lee’s discussion on new top level domains. I found it a fascinating insight to some of the concepts which were put in place in the early day’s of the internet. What I also see as interesting is that the tree-like structure of the domain system evolved from good technical reasons and was – back then – less about maintaining the concept of a trademark or brand. It’s a shame that it’s moved away from that really.

New Entries Or Broken Images?

Some site maintenance notes regarding broken images in some feed readers and entries reported as new when they are not.

Just in case you are reading this via a feed/rss reader of some kind – like bloglines – then you might be seeing you reader marking a whole stack of entries new when they are, clearly, not. I’ve made some minor code changes to the site to have the feeds validate with the Feed Validator as well as link to the comments from the feed. Additionally, I’ve added a couple of Movable Type plug-ins that will help me keep the rest of the site validated. Nothing major but it does mean some of the entries have been marked as updated when it’s just the background code that has been amended.

If you happen to use an web-based feed reader or aggregator you may see that images are broken. I’ve prevented images being called if the referrer is not this site because some of the images from the Man of the Moment section were being called by external sites and I don’t want to end up paying for that bandwidth. It’s not intended to stop people reading the site from seeing anything so let me know what reader you use and I will try and open images up to the relevant domains.

Junk Mail Is Now 70% Of All Mail

Junk mail now accounts for nearly 70% of e-mails worldwide, according to filtering firm MessageLabs.

There are a lot of reports around at the moment about the levels of spam. BBC News is saying that junk mail now accounts for nearly 70% of e-mails worldwide. If this is true then I am doing rather better than most people. You may recall that my ISP is Demon who introduced spam filtering earlier this year. This has had a fantastic impact on the levels of spam I receive. Musak is hosted with DreamHost who use razor spam filtering server-side and then I use Mozilla’s junk mail filter at my end of the chain. If one message a day gets through then I am surprised indeed. I’m so used to this level of filtering that I hardly ever look at the spam folder. I just looked at it and while there are lots of pre-filtered messages there none of them were mails I should have had. All-in-all this is working very well indeed.

Missed Todd’s Coming Out

Sounds like it was a fab night on Coronation Street yesterday.

bruno langley is toddReading the Yahoo group, it seems the story line for Coronation Street got all exciting last night and so I now have to remember to catch the ITV2 repeat. It’s funny but I really do only watch it for the gay story line and fast-forward through the rest of the episode.

For the uninitiated, Coronation Street is a classic British soap that has been on screen screen forever (see the faq). Rumour has it that Adam and Eve watched it back at the beginning of time. Anyway, Todd (engaged to be married, father) had a ‘moment’ with his fiancee’s brother (who, to be honest, is hot). It was the first ever openly gay moment on The Street (which is what it’s known as here and has no link whatsoever to stocks and shares and New York City). So, Todd gradually realises his preference is for men and falls for hunky nurse Karl. This week was the big coming out moment. The storyline is helped by the fact that Bruno Langley is also cute as hell too. So, despite the fact I don’t watch the soaps anymore, I keep watching bits of this storyline (and so, apparently, did lots of other people).

And if my friend Steve is reading this I am expecting a nice long comment about Gail Tilsley and what a joy she has been since her arrival on The Street (a hundred years ago – or so).

Palme d’Or

Michael Moore wins an award for a film most people can’t yet see.

Congratulations to Michael Moore for winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes for Fahrenheit 9/11. Previously I have enjoyed his books and films not just because, personally, I often find myself agreeing with his points but also because I believe it’s important for any democracy to have people who challenge the accepted wisdom. The fact that the film has not been distributed yet suggests says a great deal. I find it amusing/ironic/scary that we will happily criticise countries where government media censorship is quite clear but when censorship happens by the back door we don’t stand up to it. When big business censor media does this really make our democracies any better than when government’s take their scissors?

UPDATE 25 May: Just come across an interesting piece at BBC News today about documentary films: Documentaries turn up cinema heat. I am quite interested in seeing ‘Super Size Me’.

Apparently, there is also a film in the works, Michael Moore Hates America and the makers can’t get an interview with Mr Moore.

They’re Not All Like Her

Not all in Massachusetts are opposed to gay weddings.

Despite what I said about gay marriage earlier in the week, Spiked Online reports that the protests were fewer than expected,

This was not quite the scene that opponents of gay marriage had either anticipated or hoped for. Yes, a few bedraggled protesters held banners outside the City Hall in Boston – but their numbers were few and their message was all but ignored by the gathered national and international press corps [source]

Perhaps my open letter was not really needed.

What’s Happening on Channel Four?

Next Friday night is Channel Four’s big Friday.

In 1992, Kate won Big Brother 3. I started the summer with little interest and then, gradually, watched more and more of it. Last year, I seemed very aware of Big Brother 4 from the beginning. Then I grew to support Fed despite the bad press and gradually you get sucked in.

next week is a big night for channel 4So, this time next week – in a clever bit of scheduling – we will see the last episode of Friends and then watch as the new contestants enter the new house for Big Brother 5. Perhaps I will try and avoid it again this year. Still, it means interest in Dermot O’Leary will pick up again and that tends to go hand in hand with the beginning of summer. It’s a good time of year!

Channel Four will have a big night next week but C4’s boss Mark Thompson won’t be clebrating with them as he’s just jumped ship back to the BBC.

Thursday In Milan

Flying into Milan yesterday I watched as the plane flew over the channel and across the French borders.

view of france from the planeFlying into Milan yesterday I watched as the plane flew over the channel and across the French borders. I have never noticed how beautiful the French countryside is from above, a big patchwork of browns and greens stretching before you. It was a lovely clear sky and thus I could see for miles. It really was a beautiful sight.

milan hotel barArriving in Milan and a 40 minute train ride into the centre of town I made my way to the Windsor Hotel – which was very nice and, despite its name, not very British. I spent most of the evening in the bar with one of the sales guys from our Italian office. Usually, these trips are pretty lonely as I arrive late and am holed up in a hotel room until it’s time to get up and make a meeting, taxi or office. This was nice but I still managed to get to bed at a decent time last night to make this morning’s meeting.

Open Letter To The Woman in Massachusetts

One of the facets of a cavilled society is that it strives to be better for all its people. At this moment in history Massachusetts seems to be at the forefront of those striving to improve upon what we have.

Yesterday, I was in a my hotel room watching BBC World news. I generally have it on in the background when I am alone in hotels; mainly for the company rather than the fact that I am interested in the repetitive cycles of 24-hour news programming.

I looked up from what I was reading when pictures of the first legal US gay weddings in Massachusetts came on. Obviously, this is a topic that I have a personal interest in. My congratulations go out to all who legally wed over the past few days. While I understand that not every gay couple wants to marry I strongly believe in the equality that this decision represents and the dignity it affords all people in the state.

Of course any balanced media coverage had to include those who objected. There were scenes of people praying and some placards but nothing looked like it had turned into mass rioting and I took that to be an encouraging sign. However, the was one female opponent to the legalisation of gay marriage who did frustrate me – perhaps irrationally – more than the others. Her comments to camera went along the lines of. ‘They want to destroy traditional values’.

Despite the whole ridiculousness and stupidity of that comment and the fact that it doesn’t even make sense it angered me more than anything else I heard.

Dear Madam

I saw your comments last night on the television news and how you feel that, through the legalisation of gay marriage, ‘they’ (who I take you mean to be homosexuals in Massachusetts) are trying to destroy traditional values.

I wanted to ask you about your traditional values but you were a vox pop on the international news and I will never get the chance. So I choose to write my thoughts here. Perhaps one day you will read them and think.

A tradition is usually something that has been around of a long time. It has roots and a history. Culturally, traditions are often important and significant but they have not always existed nor have they always been as they are. Traditions develop with human life on earth. They are of their time. Your implication is that traditions are good and anything that changes (or – in your eyes – erodes them) is bad. But, forgive me for my rudeness, this is pure crap.

For centuries we burned people we considered witches. That tradition is gone. Should be fighting to keep it? There was a tradition of denying women the vote, or perhaps I should say that traditionally men voted while women stayed at home. I don’t hear you shouting for that tradition. Can I say there was a tradition of slavery? Perhaps not, but certainly – at one time – reasonable, decent people of the age thought it was acceptable. Quite rightly we deny that tradition now.

Bur regardless of my flippancy here, your comments angered me for they tried to dress your bigotry up. Your tried to hide it by using an argument that says because it has always been one way that is the way it should stay. If I was from your country I may attempt to rationalise this for you by saying you were outside your ‘comfort zone’ and that’s why you react as you do. Fortunately I am not and thus, from a distance of an ocean away, I can see your intolerance for what it is.

So, let me set the record straight. Nobody is trying to destroy tractional values for there really is no such thing. Massachusetts has seen that so-called traditions that uphold prejudice, intolerance and preach inequality must, like witch burning, slavery and dancing around a may-pole, be consigned to a part of human history where peoples of the future can look back and laugh at us.

I wasn’t angered by the prejudice of the religious zealots who were featured in the news. While I believe them to be ill-informed and not speaking for any deity I perceive, I do understand the roots of their opposition. I am angered by your hiding behind reasoning that because something has always been it should always be so. Traditions are often no more than superstition justified by repetition over extended periods of time. So, please, accept the fact that your opposition is rooted in fear (I did want to say prejudice but I hope that your prejudice is caused by fear) and embrace the inclusive new traditions of your state.

One of the facets of a cavilled society is that it strives to be better for all its people. At this moment in history Massachusetts seems to be at the forefront of those striving to improve upon what we have. Perhaps, in the north eastern corner of the US, we are seeing one of the most civilised places on earth emerging. That is a cause for celebration.

You don’t realise how lucky you are to be living in such a place.

Jon

Free Software?

I can’t write code so I can’t contribute in that way so I really ought to pay something for it. I think it’s only right.

I am sat in Madrid thinking a little bit about my last post about Movable Type. Yes, I am on another business trip. This time the hotel is close to the airport and was a quick taxi ride away. I should be asleep in thirty minutes but I have been thinking about software that is, apparently, free.

As I noted earlier, I don’t have much problem with the concept of Movable Type morphing into a proper paid for, licensed, piece of software. They say it will not be crippleware and that trust will very much be part of it. Six Apart allow you to determine how many ‘blogs’ make your site (it’s not a hard-coded limit) and allows you to determine how many users really are active in using the software. There is a great deal of trust there which I am not sure is sustainable. Nonetheless, I think this is a good approach.

When I look around I look at what else I use regularly (and I will stick with personal software rather than work-based software). My version of Windows XP at home was pre-installed a properly licensed. I use HomeSite if I ever need an HTML editor. It’s a fully paid-for. Paint Shop Pro is my image editor. It was a full free version which they chose to give away on some magazine cover or other so it is, therefore, properly licensed despite being unpaid for. I tend to use Windows Media Player (which is free) but I have paid for Real Player Plus to get some of the additional features.

So far so good. I’ve noted before that I have licensed Opera as a browser even though I do not use it a great deal. But the most-used piece of Software on my machine is Mozilla. I use it for web-browsing and for mail. It handles all my mail accounts. I think it’s superb. I have never contributed to it since the very beginning when I acquired a licensed version of Netscape 0.9/1.0 (and even then the company I worked for bought it for me). I can’t write code so I can’t contribute in that way so I really ought to pay something for it. I think it’s only right. As with Movable Type there are people who work for the company that makes it. If I want them to be around I should support them.

And that’s why today I will make a donation to Mozilla.